The Seer

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When Andre Previn was a very young pianist and a whiz-kid in Hollywood, there was a suggestion that he should give a performance of the Gershwin Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra conducted by the formidable Hungarian exile, George Szell. But Szell was not so sure. So Previn flew to Cleveland to convince him and was ushered into Szell’s apartment.

The conductor glowered at him across the table and said, “Mr Previn would you be so kind as to play the solo part for me.” Andre Previn replied, “Certainly … but where is the piano?” Szell said, “There is no need for the piano — just play it here on the top of the table.” So Previn set to and fingered the entire solo part of the Gershwin piano concerto on the table while Szell watched fascinated.

At the end there was a pause, and Szell said: “No, no, very sorry, long journey, waste of time, very sad, no.”

Andre Previn paused for a moment and then said, “I can only tell you it sounds a lot better on my table at home.”

Now listen to another prodigy, Nathan (cellist, age 11) gracefully commenting on Saint Saens’ “The Swan” … beautiful!

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My mother-in-law, Scotty, would sometimes tell me stories about her childhood in Glasgow, and once she told me of the old lamplighter who was known as “The Leary” from R L Stephenon’s famous poem. Every evening at dusk the old man would move down the street with a long pole that had a tiny flame at the end of it, lighting one lamp after another, bringing light to the whole district. Scotty ended her story with the remark, “… and after a while, Son, the Leary would be completely out of sight way down the street somewhere, but you could always tell which way he’d gone by the light he left behind.”

Pete Sumner

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Q) Enlightenment, as I understand it, seems to conflict with my religious up-bringing. Does that mean I can’t be Enlightened?

A) No. Enlightenment in itself is purely Self-Realization. If this is indeed in conflict with your religion, then there is something wrong. It is possible some of the stories and insights from Enlightened people may seem to contradict some of the Religious ideas, with their traditions
handed down through Millennia, but whether we look at Christianity with the sayings Be still and know that I am God, and I and my Father are One, or Buddhism which is actually based around the teachings of an Enlightened person, or even much of the Baghavad Gita (as I recall); all refer to realising of the truth within one’s self.

Religion comes from the Latin word, ligare, meaning to bind back. To me that means to reconnect with our Source.

It is often the traditions which seem contradictory, not the original teaching. So you should have no trouble practicing being aware when you continue to learn about your religion. As you do so, you are likely to see truths in it you never saw before, while seeing where some of the truths end and the traditions begin.

By Nick Roach

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I breathe the breath of the morning, I am one with the one World-Soul.
I live my own life no longer, but the life of the living Whole.
I am more than self: I am selfless: I am more than self: I am I,
I have found the springs of my being in the flush of the eastern sky,
I — the true self, the spirit, the self that is born of death –
I have found the flame of my being in the morn’s ambrosial breath.

I lose my life for a season: I lose it beyond recall
But I find it renewed, rekindled, in the life of the One, the All.
I look not forward or backward: the abysses of time are nought.
From pole to pole of the Heavens I pass in a flash of thought.
I clasp the world to my bosom: I feel its pulse in my breast, –
The pulse of measureless motion, the pulse of fathomless rest.

Is it motion or rest that thrills me? Is it lightning or moonlit peace?
Am I freer than waves of ether or prisoned beyond release?
I know not; but through my spirit, within me, around, above,
The world-wide river is streaming, the river of life and love.
Silent, serene, eternal, passionless, perfect, pure ; –
I may not measure its windings, but I know that its aim is sure.

In its purity seethes all passion in its silence resounds all song:
Its strength is builded of weakness: its right is woven of wrong.
I am borne afar on its bosom ; yet its source and its goal are mine.
From the sacred springs of creation to the ocean of love Divine.
I have ceased to think or to reason: there is nothing to ponder or prove:
I hope, I believe no longer: I am lost in a dream of love.”

by Edmond Holmes

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I have a friend who was born blind. She has no idea what darkness is and so I tried to give her an idea of what stars are and why we love them. I said, “Imagine when you touch the edge of something, you feel the edge, and then you move your hand away and nothing obstructs your hand, so there is space, nothing obstructing.

Now imagine if you could put your hands out and feel around yourself a large collection of randomly distributed prickles, sharp points, that don’t hurt you. At least not like the point of a needle. They’re kind of pleasure-pain. We get this impression with the things we call our eyes, a friendly prickle coming at us from all over space when we can see them at night.”

By Alan Watts — The Essence of Alan Watts

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Oprah Winfrey’s ten-session Webcast series with Eckhart Tolle, discussing his book, A New Earth has now concluded with most viewers hailing it as a stimulating and enriching exchange in many ways. Due to the vast number of people Oprah can reach, (over two million watched these live events) there were all kinds of people drawn into an experience they may never have opened to. This is cool . . . but it was bound to ruffle some feathers.

The first thing I noticed was a lot of fundamental leaning Christians having problems with Eckhart’s teaching, or perhaps it was with coming to grips with their own shallow grasp of what Yeshua (Jesus) really taught. Many people in the forum are expressing problems with guilt or with their fellow Christians chastising them for accusing this gentle teacher of being “satanic” or the “antichrist” WOW, but it does not surprise me. It would be laughable if it were not such a sad reflection on the unconsciousness of these ‘religious’ critics.

Satanic? An English friend tells the humorous story about giving his sister a copy of The Power of Now

On a more sombre note, this fundamentalist claims on YouTube that Oprah was host to Antichrist

In case you’re wondering, the Antichrist is considered by believers to be the prodigious tyrant of the last days, the arch-enemy of Christ. It was a notion that combined Persian dualism with Judeo-Christian apocalypse. Antichrist first appeared in Revelation as the pseudo-messiah ‘who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped…. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given to him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.’ In the Middle Ages, however, he was portrayed not only as a world tyrant but also as an airborne beast with a huge head, flaming eyes, ass’s ears, and iron teeth.

If this hasn’t put you off the Oprah / Eckhart Webcasts for good, we now have the complete series of ten available on DVD disks … or disk, for a nominal price of $2 a disk. Wih over 15 hours of teaching and entertaining inspiration, these sessions reveal again the liberating truth of Who we really are.

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After four hundred years of Puritan oppression, we in the Western World are painfully cold people. Since nearly all physical contact is construed as potentially sexual, people constantly avoid touching each other. Those “licensed” to touch, like doctors, barbers, hairdressers, and
tailors, are careful to remain as impersonal as possible lest they be accused of making an advance.

The simple fact remains, however, that you can use your hands to bring immense pleasure to another human being without the coldness of traditional therapy and outside the intimacies of sex. There is a wide spectrum of human feeling between the poles of therapy and sex — it could be referred to as the sensual.

by Gordon Inkeles in his ground-breaking book, The Art of Sensual Massage

Here’s a nice little YouTube video clip about the Free Hugs Campaign.

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Being critical of Buddhism isn’t easy. Buddhism is the most likable of the major religions, and Buddhists are the perennial good guys of modern spirituality. Beautiful traditions, lovely architecture, inspiring statuary, ancient history, the Dalai Lama — what’s not to like?

Everything about Buddhsim is just so — nice. No fatwahs or jihads, no inquisitions or crusades, no terrorists or pederasts, just nice people being nice. In fact, Buddhism means niceness. Nice-ism.

At least, it should.

Buddha means Awakened One, so Buddhism can be taken to mean Awake-ism. Awakism. It would therefore be natural to think that if you were looking to wake up, then Buddhism, i.e., Awakism, would be the place to look.

To read the rest of this article by the writer calling himself Jed McKenna, >Click Here.

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It seems that once again, Consciousness has moved American TV talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, the most influential book reviewer in the world, to bestow her awesome marketing power on Vancouver-based spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle.

In revealing her 61st choice of reading material for her 700,000-member book club and countless other fans, Oprah recently told her TV audience she was selecting Eckhart’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.

Oprah, who in 2001 helped catapult Eckhart’s The Power of
Now into a million-copy bestseller, also announced she will soon join Eckhart in hosting an online workshop on his latest book, A New Earth.

Oprah hopes her Web course with Eckhart will become “the world’s largest classroom.”

Being a Web course or Webcast means you will be able to see and hear it on your own computer. The course is free, but you have to register on-line to access it. You can register quickly and easily >Here

The 10-program course begins March 3, 2008 at 9.00pm Eastern time in the USA and runs each week till May 5.

For Australian viewers, 9.00pm Monday March 3, in US/Eastern (9/8c) converts to 11.00am Tuesday March 4, in Perth — 1.00pm Tuesday March 4, in Sydney/Melbourne.

Eckhart’s earlier work, The Power of Now, is already a best-seller and one of Oprah’s Favourite Books on her Web site.

The Power of Now, which forms the foundation of A New Earth, shows readers how to find freedom form mind-made suffering and total identification with the ego. This can lead to the discovery of our true nature which many refer to as an Awakening.

Don’t miss this great opportunity. For further details, >Click Here.

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Recently I saw an interview on television with Jane Goodall who in 1960 began studying chimpanzees in East Africa. Her mentor, the archaeologist and anthropologist Louis Leakey, was interested in whether chimpanzees and humans exhibit similar kinds of behaviour. If they do, this would support archaeological evidence indicating we share a common ancestor.

During the interview Goodall spoke about an occasion when she was walking through the bush with one of the chimpanzees she was studying and getting to know. After a while they stopped and she offered the chimpanzee a piece of fruit. Looking her in the eyes he took the fruit, dropped it, then squeezed her hand - then got up and carried on down the path. Goodall was so astonished she just sat there for a while, taking in what had happened.

It seemed obvious that although he had refused the food, he wanted her to know he was grateful. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. It was just how a human being might have responded.

She then described another scene. Some evenings the chimpanzees would gather by a waterfall. They didn’t go there for any practical reason – they weren’t going there to drink or eat or sleep. It seemed they were simply going to look. As they looked they swayed from foot to foot, as if they were dancing.

Jane imagined that for them the water cascading down was a mysterious, awe-inspiring thing for “it was always flowing in, always flowing out, and always there”. In the face of this magical vision, what did they do?

They danced!

Her picture of the waterfall is a perfect description of the present moment – things are always flowing in to this timeless awareness, always flowing out of it, and always present in it. Though what is in the emptiness is always changing, yet there’s always something in it. How amazing.

What is your (human!) response to the miracle of this moment, the miracle of sounds, colours, sensations and all the rest, given in this timeless emptiness?

I love to dance!

Richard Lang

For information about Jane Goodall:
click Here